DALC (Dynamics of Asymmetric Language Contact) is an open, informal, non-institutionalized special interest group, started by Hiwa Asadpour, Carolina Plaza-Pust, and Manfred Sailer, early 2022 at the Institute of English and American Studies, Goethe-University Frankfurt a.M.

DALC brings together researchers with various areas of specialization interested in the investigation of the dynamics of asymmetric language contact. Typically, language contact situations are characterized by variation, competition and coexistence of linguistic features at different levels of linguistic analysis and their interfaces. This dynamics becomes apparent not only in the linguistic behavior of bilingual speakers and signers (code-switching, code-mixing, cross-linguistic influence) but also in the evolution of language systems over time (language change, emergence of new varieties, mixed languages). 

By approaching the dynamics of language contact from different theoretical perspectives DALC aims to contribute to a better understanding of the outcomes of language contact in diverse social contexts involving spoken and sign languages.

The three initiators hope that DALC can provide a forum for exchanging research ideas on different types of language contact situations and for putting them to challenge through different theoretical perspectives and data types. 

To find out more about DALC, check the DALC web page and don’t hesitate to contact Hiwa, Carolina, and Manfred at:

dalc “at” uni “minus” frankfurt “dot” de

Link:

DALC web page: https://blog.studiumdigitale.uni-frankfurt.de/dalc/